Theodore f



(No Model.)l

T. 1:", TIlVIBY` COMBINED SHEATHING AND LATHING. No. 368,694. Patented Aug. 23, 188

y THEODORE F T/MBY,

NITED STATES NPATENT Ormes..

THEODORE F. TIMBY, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK.

COMBINED SHEATHING AND LATHING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,694-l dated August 23, 18817.

Application filed Mayu), 1887.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, THEoDoRE F. TIMBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined Sheathing and Lathing, of which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to those articles of building material known as combined sheathing and lathing, or sheathing-mths, as they are hereinafter termed. Its objects are to meet two practical difficulties which have 'been experienced in the use of sheathinglaths-to wit, first, to provide for securely nailing the sheathing-laths to the studding or other woodwork, and at the same time to provide for the swelling of the same by themoist plaster when they are originally dry,or the shriuking of the same when they happen to be of green or unseasoned lumber, whichever the case may be; second, to insure the entrance of the plaster into the key-grooves,7 so as to fill every part thereof, and at the same time to so shape the solid dovetail keys of plaster so insured that they are not liable to be broken when the lath swells or shrinks or warps after the plaster has been applied.

This invention consists in certain novel fea=i tures of construction which have been embodied in an improved sheathing-lath,as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this speciiication as part thereof.

Figure l of these drawings represents aperspeetive view of said improved sheathing-lath, showing its back. Fig. 2 represents a perspective face view and crosssection of the same as nailed up. Fig. 3 represents two vertical cross-sections of the plastered sheathinglath, illustrating, respectively, the effects of swelling` and shrinking.

Like letters of reference indicate correv spending parts in the several figures.

The improved sheathing-laths A are made from culls77 or any available boards, of pine or othersuitable lumber, about an inch thick in the rough and of varying widths, by planing and grooving the face j' and kerngthe back b, asshown. The kerfs la are cut in the back Z) longitudinallyin parallel pairs, which are intermediate to the grooves or pairs of grooves g in the face of each sheathing-lath.

Serial No. 238,766. (No model.)

Solid portions s, extending solidly from face to back, are thus formed midway between the grooves or pairs of grooves, with a kerf, k, on each side of each solid portion. The kerfs and grooves are each out about two-thirdsthrough the lath, so as to cross the central plane midway between the face f and back b. A considerable portion of the .thickness of the latli is thus rendered common to both, and there is no plane in which the wood extends solidly from edge to edge.

In nailing up these sheathing-]aths, as illustratedbyFig. 2, the nails a are driven midway between the pairs of grooves g, and thus into and through said solid portions e, which are so made fast to the studding or other woodwork B. The plastering C, Fig. 3, is now applied to the grooved face of the laths in customary manner, being attached thereto by dovetail keys77 d, integral therewith, which are molded within the grooves g in the act of applying the plaster.

If the lathfs are well seasoned when they are used, they absorb water from the wet plaster, and consequently swell to a considerable extent; but owing to the isolation of said solid portions s and the making fast of these portions by the nails n, as aforesaid, such swell ing can only expand edgewise those narrow strips on each side of the respective rows of nails at the face of the lath, and those more extensive portions between the rows of nails at the back of the lath. The latter simply closes the kerfs k in the back of the improved lath, as illustrated by the upper part of Fig. 3. If the laths are unseasoned when applied, they will eventually shrink to a' material ex tent, as illustrated by the lower part of said Fig. 3. In this case the edgewise contraction is limited to `said narrow face portions and to said portions between the rows of nails at the back, and the latter is compensated for by the opening of the kerfs 7c without affect-ing the nails or plaster. To facilitate rendering said dovetail keys d on the vplaster solid, and to prevent their injury by the swelling or shrinking ofthe laths, as aforesaid, the grooves g, as I make them, are in fact pairs of oblique grooves, as cut by a pair of circular saws having half-round edges, and so set as to enter the facefin or near one and the same line. A single pair of salient sharp edges, e, conse- IOO quently bound the entrance to both grooves of each pair. The plaster, in entering, is cut by these edges, and follows the outer Walls and rounded bottoms of the grooves, so as to completely fill each groove, forming strong and solid keys d, and the keys so formed are of such a curvilinear shape in cross-section that the wood in swelling or shrinking around them finds accommodation and does not affect the keys.

I am aware that sheathing-laths have been made with shallow single kerfs in the back midway between their grooves to prevent F warping.7 Such kerfs receive the nails and impair their hold, frequently causing the laths to be split by the nails, while they 0bviously cannot compensate for swelling and shrinking in the manner Vhereinbefore set forth. Y

I am also aware that key-grooves have been formed in such laths with pairs of rounded bottoms, in connection with a single entrance for each pair, but not in connection with salient sharp edges, from which the outer sides of the grooves extend in straight lines to the rounded 'bottoms7 which is an essential feature of the grooves g of my improved sheathing-laths.

Having thus described my said improve'- ment in combined sheathing and lathing, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specication-- v l. An improved sheathing-lathv having a longitudinally-grooved face and a longitudinally-kerfed back, with its kerfs in pairs midway between the successive pairs of groove-entrances, and solid portions extending through from face t0 back between the kerfs of each pair to receive the nails,substantially as herein specified, for the purposes set forth.

2. An improved sheathing-lath having its face provided with round-bottomed oblique grooves at opposite angles in longitudinal pairs, with an entrance bounded by sharp salient edges common to both groovesl of each pair, substantially as herein specified, for the purposes set forth.

THEODORE F. TIMBY.

Vitnesses: WM. H. LUsK Jas. L. EWIN.- 

